Alien: Romulus

Taking place between the first two films and using plot points from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Alien: Romulus focuses on a group of disgruntled colonists who have grown tired of Weyland-Yutani's corrupt ways of forcing them to work much longer than they thought. Commandeering a hauler after detecting a signal from an abandoned station that entered the planet's orbit, the group find a lot more than they bargained for when they thought they found their escape. It's easy to tell how much of a fan of the Alien franchise director and cowriter Fede Álvarez is as this brings back the menace that the titular monsters are best known for since the original films, though while tying in elements from the Ridley Scott, who serves as a producer, directed prequels. The writing from Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues doesn't try to do anything too new and for the most part plays it in the most typical fashion for the franchise. While it taking place in between Alien and Aliens is a reason for this, it's also the most quintessential one since 1997 to not be either a crossover with the Predator franchise or a prequel explaining and delving into the origins of the Xenomorphs. It does everything straightforwardly but done so in a way that definitely shows the love of this franchise and often over does it with references, but while having well thought out characters with understandable motivations, some new ways of them coming up with how to kill the deadly threats, and using a byproduct of the substance introduced in the previous Scott films. Something else that this entry has over the last few is Álvarez's direction giving the franchise back its dark, foreboding, and atmospheric vibe that made the early films so loved. All thanks not just from Álvarez but through Galo Olivares's brilliant cinematography, the unnerving score by Benjamin Wallfisch, the great production design made to make you unsure of what you're looking at, and the great mix of both practical and computer effects. Though one thing that really hurts the movie is the use of a robot made to resemble Ian Holm's character from the 1979 original. While it's understandable that there would be androids with similar looks, the CG unfortunately tries too hard to make it look like Holm while also clearly not having well finished and make it look really terrible. Daniel Betts does a great job at giving a performance similar to how Holm did and manages to have a similar voice, but this was so unnecessary to do. While the rest of the cast, including Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced and David Jonsson all give strong performances. Spaeny, especially, definitely has a look that is a combination of both Sigourney Weaver and Noomi Rapace's characters from the past films. Alien: Romulus can often feel like it has the atypical weaknesses of a legacy sequel, but does manage to be better than most thanks to its incredible production and strong cast members. Over all: 93%

2024 top list so far:

1. Dune: Part 2

2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

3. Deadpool & Wolverine

4. A Quiet Place: Day One

5. Inside Out 2

6. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

7. The Fall Guy

8. MaXXXine

9. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

10. Abigail

11. Monkey Man

12. Late Night with the Devil

13. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

14. Alien: Romulus

15. The Book of Clarence

16. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

17. Drive-Away Dolls

18. Kung Fu Panda 4

19. Lisa Frankenstein

20. Argylle

21. Mean Girls 2024